Pavel Kocourek

Research Interests

Game Theory · Dynamic Games · Information Economics · Industrial Organization · Decision-Making Under Uncertainty · Bounded Rationality · Information Processing · AI Safety and Governance

Employment

2023–2026
Postdoctoral Fellow at U. Duisburg–Essen
Project: Eugen Kovac's DFG-funded "Timing Games: Theory and Applications"
2019–2022
Postdoctoral Fellow at CERGE-EI
Project: Jakub Steiner's ERC-funded "Behavioral Implications of Information Processing"

Education

2011–2019
Ph.D. in Economics, New York University (NYU)
Supervisor: Professor Ennio Stacchetti
Thesis: Revealing Private Information in a Patent Race

Math for Economists I–II, Microeconomic Theory I–II, Macroeconomic Theory I–II, Econometrics I–II, Game Theory I–II (Ennio Stacchetti), Financial Economics I (Jaroslav Borovička), Real Analysis (Efe Ok)
2010–2011
M.A. in Macroeconomic Policy and Financial Markets, Barcelona GSE
2008–2010
M.Sc. in Financial Optimization, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU)
Thesis: Option Pricing Theory Using Mellin Transforms (advisor: H.-K. Xu)

Mathematical Programming (N. Hadjisavvas), Convex Analysis, Intro to Variational Analysis (B. Mordukhovich), Nonlinear Analysis (W. Takahashi), Applied Functional Analysis, Financial Mathematics
2005–2008
B.A. in Applied Mathematics, University of West Bohemia
Thesis: Strategic Positioning in Game Theory (advisor: P. Stehlík)

Mathematical Analysis I–III, Linear Algebra, Intro to Functional Analysis (P. Drábek), Functional Analysis, Probability & Statistics, Ordinary Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis, Graph Theory & Discrete Optimization I–II

Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships

2020, 2022
Teaching Fellowship, CERGE-EI Foundation.
2011–2016
MacCracken Scholarship, NYU.
2010–2011
La Caixa Scholarship, Barcelona GSE.
2008–2010
Taiwan Government Scholarship, NSYSU.
2005
Silver Medal, 46th IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad).
2003
Bronze Medal, 44th IMO.

Continuing Education

AI Safety Fellowships

2026
Supervised Program for Alignment Research (SPAR) Fellowship, Race Dynamics Group
Mentored by Katja Grace (AI Impacts). 3-month research fellowship; project: formal modeling of competitive dynamics in AI development and incentives for safety investment.

AI Safety Coursework

2026
Technical AI Safety Course, BlueDot Impact
6-week program. Certificate.
2025
AGI Strategy Course, BlueDot Impact
5-week program. Certificate.
2025
AI Safety, Ethics, and Society (AISES), CAIS
12-week program. Certificate.

Other

2025
Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality
Stone Center & YES. Certificate.
2020
Teaching Principles and Practices, CERGE-EI Foundation
30 hours. Certificate.

Technical Skills

Programming: Python, MATLAB. Formal methods: Lean 4. Agent-assisted editing: Cursor.

Languages

English (fluent), Czech (native), Spanish (advanced), German (beginner), Dutch (beginner).

Refereeing

Ad hoc referee: Review of Economic Studies; American Economic Review; Demonstratio Mathematica; Numerical Functional Analysis and Optimization.

Conference and Workshop Presentations

2025
Armenian Economic Association XV Annual Meetings; YES Summer School; 52nd Annual Conference of EARIE (Valencia).
2024
GAMES 2024 (Beijing); EEA 2024 (Rotterdam); Workshop on Timing Games (Bielefeld).
2023
Oligo Workshop 2023 (Padova); 13th Conference on Economic Design (Girona); 18th European Meeting on Game Theory (Messina).
2022
Young Economists' Meeting (Brno); Seminar presentation at University of Duisburg–Essen.
2020
EEA 2020 (Virtual); GAMES 2020 (Budapest).

CV